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Title: Cal Thomas: Unions, overregulation drove American Dream into a ditch
Source:
SacBee
URL Source: http://www.sacbee.com/opinion/story/1920481.html
Published: Jun 5, 2009
Author: Cal Thomas
Post Date: 2009-06-05 16:06:01 by farmfriend
Keywords: None
Views: 1610
Comments: 137
By Cal Thomas America is asking you to call. Drive your Chevrolet through the USA America's the greatest land of all. Fifty years ago, those words set to music each week on NBC's "The Dinah Shore Show" reflected an America and an automobile industry that is no more. That time and that industry were laid to rest this week when General Motors filed for bankruptcy and the government effectively nationalized GM and Chrysler after wasting billions of our tax dollars on a failed bailout. Despite disclaimers from President Barack Obama that the government doesn't want to be in the car business, it is hard to see what it has bought with our tax dollars other than two of what used to be known as "the big three." Government by default or determination will choose the types of cars the companies it owns will make. Government will buy a lot of them because not enough customers will unless they are made offers they can't refuse, not by a car salesman in a loud sport coat, but by a government bureaucrat in a suit. It's difficult to let go of an American dream. When I was growing up, every kid wanted to drive his own car. Our frugal parents (who had just one car) would let us drive it, but with restrictions, including a set time to bring the car back in the same pristine condition in which we found it. A car was a rite of passage. It conveyed independence and status. Each September we salivated at the prospect of new models. There was always a big buildup and we'd go to the Chevy (or Ford) dealer early on the morning they were for sale. Sometimes they would be covered with sheets and a dramatic unveiling would take place. TV commercials would show parts of new models in a kind of striptease before their debut. Some believe the models between 1955 and 1959, especially the 1957 Chevy Bel Air and the 1958 Impala, are unsurpassed, though Ford devotees have their Mustangs and T-Birds. Pontiac's GTO and some Dodge and Plymouth models were also great. Chrysler had the Imperial, which resembled a boat with running lights, and the New Yorker for "old rich people." And then there was the one beyond our reach, but not beyond our dreams: the Cadillac. The song "Pink Cadillac" became a hit, in part because we saw Elvis in one. America's relationship with its cars has rightly been called a love affair. Though some have tried to replicate the smell of a new car in spray cans, there is nothing quite like the feeling of sinking into new faux leather and later, if you could afford it, the real thing. Much if not all of those thrills will be gone, thanks to greed by the unions, government overregulation and bad management. The customers, who once were always right, have been cheated. All one has to do is look at government-made cars to see they are about as attractive as government art, government architecture, or many other things government does poorly. The Skoda (when the Czechoslovakia communist party made them – they're nice now thanks to free-market capitalism) had its own jokes: "How much is a Skoda worth with a full tank of gas?" Answer: "Twice as much." East Germany's Trabant, a major polluter, was little more than a two-cycle engine encased in the thinnest veneer, and the old Soviet Union cars were about as appealing as a Siberian winter. These are the kinds of cars governments have produced. Obama says all of those laid-off autoworkers will have to "sacrifice" for the sake of their children and grandchildren. So much for their American Dream. If a Republican president had said that, he would have been denounced as insensitive and uncaring. Performance is sweeter Nothing can beat her Life is completer in a Chevy. Not anymore. Bye-bye Miss American Pie; drove my Chevy to the levee but the levee was dry. This is the day GM died.Cal Thomas: Unions, overregulation drove American Dream into a ditch
Published: Friday, Jun. 5, 2009 - 12:00 am | Page 19A See the USA in your Chevrolet
On a highway, or a road along the levee
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#7. To: Lady X (#3)
"Eugenics became recognized as a legitimate science, in America, in the early 1920s. It made major moves, though, during the 1930s. The movement offered answers as to who was responsible for the social and economic state of the country. The finger of blame was directed at paupers, the "feebleminded," "degenerates" and the "mentally diseased."
The '59 Impala surpassed it with much bigger fins.
Ever try and get a teacher or a cop fired? The unions defend the indefensible.
Without unions, good or bad, there would never have been a middle class in America. True, unions protect the malingerers as well as the hard working employee. What is the alternative??? We would go back to child labor, and many of the elite of this country are well know for having made their fortunes from the backs of children.
I've know unions and their members all my life. I've been in and out as a member and then as white collar worker. From my experience, they're a necessary evil, at least up North. The cost of living in NYC is such that the $40-$50 an hour buys a member a middle class life. I certainly can understand how someone looking at that wage from a less costly part of the nation can point fingers, but salary is relative to cost of living. OTOH, the politics of unions I find disgusting, and oddly, it doesn't reflect that of the membership IMO. Anyway, thanks for the article and subsequent interesting comments.
You will notice that it is only the companies that have unions that are getting tax payer bailouts last time I checked Wal-Mart is looking to hire 20,000 with no union...for now!
Unions do not protect labor and I see nothing wrong with a young person working if they want to. I really resent the government telling my child he can't work without a permit from his school. It is none of the school's business or the government's for that matter. As for allowing a middle class in expensive NY I don't see it. If labor didn't blackmail businesses they would be forced to move to less expensive areas or costs in NY would come down. Mean while I can't afford a car because some jerks makes $50 bucks an hour screwing in screws on a production line. Do you really think dock workers deserve $80,000 to $100,000 a year? That's what they get in Sacramento no less. Why? Is their labor really worth that? No, the unions can shut down shipping though. Maybe the docks should be able to hire cheaper and willing labor? Sorry, you can't be libertarian and support unions. I have the right to work any job I'm able to and I also have the right not to join a union. The unions don't see it that way though. Coercive organizations. I CAN'T STAND UNIONS!
Most of us agree. However, the odds are great that without Unions, you would have never been middle class or higher. As for child labor, one has to review its ugly past to understand why we have rigid child labor laws now.
I'm not middle class or higher and my understanding is that child labor was not what it is made out to be. Propaganda put out by the unions. Getting rid of unions would not take us back to that either. Unions drive up cost and drive industry to third worlds. BTW, most unions are for government workers now. Why is that?
The political influence is a downside. The upside is that you can't work enough hours at WalMart to earn a decent living.
Nothing to do with the Military Industrial Corporate Banking complex, which Cal is a card carring member of, and the endless wars, and fantastically expensive wars they have propagated has anything to do with it huh Cal?
"Satan / Cheney in "08" "child labor was not what it is made out to be. Propaganda put out by the unions." My parents were very much involved in child labor, being born before 1900. I was in on the tail end of such as late as the 1930s as farmers were allowed to hire children for dangerous jobs at little pay. The history of child labor and socialism can be studied with one man, Robert Owen, back in the early 1800s. There were no unions then, no propaganda, Owen was a very wealthy man, all from the sweat and blood of very small children. He describes such in his own words. Owens conscience finally bothered him to such an extent that he is credited with being the Father of socialism. People wrongfully try to separate capitalism and socialism as being separate distinct entities, they are not. Capitalism begot socialism and now they are one and the same.
People need to be reminded of that tom.
Unions today suck. They served their purpose back in the day. Kids today should be able to work, and learn what it's like to perform a service and get paid for it, whatever is the prevailing wage for that job. It will not kill them, and it may show to them the value of learning more valuable skills. This is my own life-experience.
And the fact that all the so called socialist governments in recent past actually were fascist dictatorships of various forms. It took Russia about three years from their revolution in 1917, claiming as one of the foundations of the new community they were forming to be self determination before the Russians were expanding into East Europe. Anyone who thinks that Russia or the East European bloc states were socialists is just incorrect. Yes that is what they called themselves, like the USG calling itself a "participatory democracy".
"Satan / Cheney in "08" Thank god management and government is free of that mind set.
"Satan / Cheney in "08" Like child molesters and embezzlers. They have long outlived most of their usefulness. True, they are needed in some professions like mining and blasting where there is serious chance of injury, but most union members are Government employees these days. So tell me, with the vast majority (read: 90%+) of union members being Government employees, are they truly still needed to protect the IRS agent who just stole your house, the cop who planted a bag of weed on your child, and the teacher who was caught sleeping with your son?
Caustic sarcasm is loved.
Having once been a Union member and employed by the government, I have a little knowledge on that subject. In the olde days we had no union, needed none and then after 1960 there abouts, things changed, the government was setting all the rules and we had no recourse. It was for self protection that Unions came about.
Freedom of assembly and association.
Federal government is a huge cancer and no doctor would work on the cancer without wearing rubber gloves.
Except the freedom to find a different job if you didn't like the one you had.
In the pre-WWI days, sure, they were needed. These are not the pre-WWI days anymore. Times have changed but unions have not. Tell me, how many Government Accountants need self-protection? 90%+ of Union members today are Government Employees. How many of them need self-protection and from what?
When monopolies control access to labor, the people struggle to find a way to deal with the situation. I prefer not to work union, but I understand why people have gone that way, and stayed. It becomes a family tradition. Abuse of the workers is what brought out the need. The right has only served to protect the monopolies with its union busting. Break up the multinational conglomerates, and the need for unions would probably subside. What passes for the American left or the right: it doesn't matter. The traditional language used to describe political factions and viewpoints all lead back to the same thing: great masses of power and wealth accumulated where it doesn't belong, and moving away from the citizens quickly.
You do realize that Unions are monopolies.
Good point. But I will say that one bad deed begets another.
Unions started in the pre-WWI era. Are you really arguing that everything is the same now that it was One Hundred Years ago?
Worse, because the dollar is even less reliable than it was then.
So why are you arguing to keep things 100 years in the past and saying "Its probably a good idea" ?
Absolutely true. Abusive labor practices generated labor unions. And yes the unions abused the system.
"Satan / Cheney in "08" No one can "keep" a union except the workers. It's really up to them. If they think it helps them, they'll probably do it. It may hurt them in the long run, but that's how it goes. I'll point out that unions took root after the industrial revolution had turned to militarization, and when we had committed to empire. Around the same time, the Fabians nationalized our public lands and curtailed homesteading. We talk about the symptoms. They just don't matter as much as the root causes do.
That is a profound and accurate observation.
"Satan / Cheney in "08" True... With that view, you surprise me. It is not a knowledgeable, self disciplined, well thought out position to abide. Public servants are just that, working at the will and whim of politicians and their minions. Long ago it was called the "spoils system", a system kept afloat by widespread corruption that used public money as their own private piggy bank. The people demanded change and a promise was made to civil servants, work for so many years and certain age, and you will receive a pension, in return we demand loyalty, we set your wages and working criteria. That left open the opportunity for mischief, in that one could work to near pension time and end up with nothing. Thus Unions.
Mark If America is destroyed, it may be by Americans who salute the flag, sing the national anthem, march in patriotic parades, cheer Fourth of July speakers - normally good Americans who fail to comprehend what is required to keep our country strong and free - Americans who have been lulled into a false security (April 1968).---Ezra Taft Benson, US Secretary of Agriculture 1953-1961 under Eisenhower
thanks for the insult.
We've seen the concept of "working for a living" (you know, for sustenance and prosperity throughout one's life) turned to dust. I've heard so-called "conservatives" lambasting workers who demand a decent retirement pension. If we respect the value of life and property, then we must be willing to compensate people for the portion of their lives they give up in work. To do otherwise is theft. And that's what we see now creeping upward from the poorer classes (who are often the ones to experience it) to the middle class.
That is incorrect given the NLRB and how Union Bosses operate through intimidation. Federal Law protects and enhances Unions. You should look into it some time. In many States, workers have no choice but to join a union and then have little say in what happens to the union dues that they are then forced to pay. For example, the 'benefits' that unions negotiate are typically of a one-size-fits-all type. Like Health Insurance. Where I am, the local teachers' union did a marvelous job of it. You pay $1000 per month or more regardless of how many people you place on the policy. Single people pay $1000. Families of 20 pay $1000. Oh, and did I mention its a closed shop so you have no choice in the matter but to sign on for the whole kit and kaboodle?
You can always look for a job somewhere else, or start your own company.
Funny thing, that. I actually tried that once. The price tag was over $50k before we actually did anything - and that was in Government fees, regulatory compliance matters, and such. Still think that throwing a lot of people "in the way" is a good idea?
So we're back to the original problem, aren't we? You can't fix the problem by addressing the symptoms. Unions are a symptom.
"so called" conservatives? Why is a company required to give you a retirement system? Isn't that your own responsibility? Isn't that what 401Ks are for? Now if a company adds money into a retirement system as part of your wage package fine but to see this as something you are "owed" is ridiculous. Worse if we are talking about government. If a company can't get decent workers at the wage they are offering they will raise the pay. To force this with a union is wrong and to then close it to workers who don't want to join the unions compounds the wrong.
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#8. To: farmfriend (#0)
the 1958 Impala, are unsurpassed
I've already said too much.
#9. To: Lady X (#3)
Why the hell is it always the unions fault and never management?
#10. To: mirage (#9)
#11. To: farmfriend, all (#0)
#12. To: Jethro Tull (#11)
#13. To: Cynicom, Jethro Tull, Original_Intent, lodwick, IndieTX, critter, turtle, christine (#10)
What is the alternative??? We would go back to child labor,
A little known fact.... The first testicular guard "Jock strap & Cup" was used in Hockey in 1874 and the first helmet was used in 1974. It took 100 years for men to realize that the brain is also important.
#14. To: farmfriend (#13)
I CAN'T STAND UNIONS!
#15. To: Cynicom (#14)
(Edited)
you would have never been middle class or higher. As for child labor, one has to review its ugly past to understand why we have rigid child labor laws now.
A little known fact.... The first testicular guard "Jock strap & Cup" was used in Hockey in 1874 and the first helmet was used in 1974. It took 100 years for men to realize that the brain is also important.
#16. To: robnoel (#12)
#17. To: farmfriend (#0)
Unions, overregulation drove American Dream into a ditch
#18. To: farmfriend (#15)
I'm not middle class or higher and my understanding is that child labor was not what it is made out to be. Propaganda put out by the unions. Getting rid of unions would not take us back to that either. Unions drive up cost and drive industry to third worlds.
#19. To: tom007 (#17)
Nothing to do with the Military Industrial Corporate Banking complex, which Cal is a card carring member of, and the endless wars, and fantastically expensive wars they have propagated has anything to do with it huh Cal?
#20. To: farmfriend, all (#15)
#21. To: Cynicom (#19)
People need to be reminded of that tom.
#22. To: robnoel (#4)
Because the unions are run by a collection of communists and street thugs aka mafia
#23. To: Cynicom (#10)
True, unions protect the malingerers as well as the hard working employee.
#24. To: tom007 (#22)
Thank god management and government is free of that mind set.
#25. To: mirage (#23)
So tell me, with the vast majority (read: 90%+) of union members being Government employees, are they truly still needed to protect the IRS agent who just stole your house, the cop who planted a bag of weed on your child, and the teacher who was caught sleeping with your son?
#26. To: Cynicom (#25)
#27. To: Deasy (#26)
#28. To: Cynicom, mirage (#25)
things changed, the government was setting all the rules and we had no recourse.
A little known fact.... The first testicular guard "Jock strap & Cup" was used in Hockey in 1874 and the first helmet was used in 1974. It took 100 years for men to realize that the brain is also important.
#29. To: Cynicom (#25)
It was for self protection that Unions came about.
#30. To: farmfriend, mirage, tom007, wbales, bluegrass (#28)
#31. To: Deasy (#30)
The right has only served to protect the monopolies with its union busting.
#32. To: mirage (#31)
#33. To: Deasy (#32)
Good point. But I will say that one bad deed begets another.
#34. To: mirage (#33)
#35. To: Deasy (#34)
Worse, because the dollar is even less reliable than it was then.
#36. To: Cynicom (#25)
It was for self protection that Unions came about.
#37. To: mirage (#35)
#38. To: Deasy (#30)
What passes for the American left or the right: it doesn't matter. The traditional language used to describe political factions and viewpoints all lead back to the same thing: great masses of power and wealth accumulated where it doesn't belong, and moving away from the citizens quickly.
#39. To: farmfriend (#28)
Except the freedom to find a different job if you didn't like the one you had.
#40. To: farmfriend (#0)
#41. To: Cynicom (#39)
It is not a knowledgeable, self disciplined, well thought out position to abide.
A little known fact.... The first testicular guard "Jock strap & Cup" was used in Hockey in 1874 and the first helmet was used in 1974. It took 100 years for men to realize that the brain is also important.
#42. To: Cynicom, farmfriend (#39)
#43. To: Deasy (#37)
No one can "keep" a union except the workers.
#44. To: mirage, farmfriend, Cynicom (#43)
Oh, and did I mention its a closed shop so you have no choice in the matter but to sign on for the whole kit and kaboodle?
#45. To: Deasy (#44)
You can always look for a job somewhere else, or start your own company.
#46. To: mirage (#45)
The price tag was over $50k before we actually did anything - and that was in Government fees, regulatory compliance matters, and such.
#47. To: Deasy, Cynicom (#42)
I've heard so-called "conservatives" lambasting workers who demand a decent retirement pension.
A little known fact.... The first testicular guard "Jock strap & Cup" was used in Hockey in 1874 and the first helmet was used in 1974. It took 100 years for men to realize that the brain is also important.
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